This page describes a bootable CD / USB image customized for blind users. The modified version is mostly equivalent to the official "netinstall CD", but the system should start speaking as soon as you boot with it. Speech is provided via the sound card, using the eSpeak software synthesizer and the Speakup screenreader. It is also possible to use a braille display, via brltty. You can obtain the image [http://talkingarch.tk/ from this page].

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== Introduction ==

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This page describes a bootable CD / USB image customized for blind users. The modified version is mostly equivalent to the official "netinstall CD", but the system should start speaking as soon as you boot with it. Speech is provided via the sound card, using the eSpeak software synthesizer and the Speakup screenreader. It is also possible to use a braille display, via brltty. You can obtain the images [http://the-brannons.com/tarch/ here].

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Images are available for both the i686 and the x86_64 architecture. These are hybrid .iso files, so they are suitable for either a recordable CD or a USB flash drive. Just download the image required for your architecture, and write it to the medium of your choice.

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The image can be used with both the i686 or the x86_64 architecture. Also, it is suitable for either a recordable CD or a USB stick. Just download it and write it to the medium of your choice.

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Detached gpg signatures are provided for all of the images. The signatures are made with the gpg key associated with the address '''cmbrannon79 at gmail dot com'''. The key ID is '''CE8D2EE8'''. The fingerprint is '''A2C6 0177 783D 222E 3677 E247 83A0 DB7D CE8D 2EE8'''

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A detached GPG signature is provided on the download page. The signature for the current iso build is made with the gpg key associated with the address '''chris at the-brannons dot com'''. The key ID is '''6521E06D'''. The fingerprint is '''66BD 74A0 36D5 22F5 1DD7 0A3C 7F2A 1672 6521 E06D'''. This information will change when the next build becomes available to reflect the new maintainers.

=== Credits ===

=== Credits ===

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The images are produced and hosted by Chris Brannon.

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The build system, which is a respin of the Archiso releng configuration, is maintained by Kelly Prescott and by Kyle, and the images and main website are hosted by Kyle.

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Thanks to the following people for submitting valuable feedback regarding this project: Chuck Hallenbeck, Julien Claassen, Alastair Irving, Tyler Spivey, Keith Hinton, and many others. Thanks also go to Tyler Littlefield, who previously hosted the files.

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Thanks to Chris Brannon, the past maintainer, and to the following people for submitting valuable feedback regarding this project: Chuck Hallenbeck, Julien Claassen, Alastair Irving, Tyler Spivey, Keith Hinton, and many others. Thanks also go to Tyler Littlefield, who previously hosted the files.

== Installing from the CD ==

== Installing from the CD ==

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The following list of steps is a brief guide to installing Arch Linux using this CD. The instructions assume that your root partition will be mounted on /mnt.

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The following list of steps is a brief guide to installing Arch Linux using this CD. The instructions assume that your root partition will be mounted on {{ic|/mnt}}.

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#When booting, the bootloader provides a very long timeout. Press enter once the drive stops spinning.

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#This is a dual-architecture .iso file. You can just press {{ic|enter}} at the boot prompt, or wait for the bootloader to time-out. Your processor should be automatically detected, and the appropriate architecture should be loaded automatically. If you have a console speaker, you will hear a beep when the boot prompt is on screen. Otherwise, wait about 10 to 20 seconds after the CD starts spinning, or about 3 to 5 seconds after the system begins to boot from USB, and then press {{ic|enter}} to boot the image.

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# You are strongly encouraged to read the ArchLinux documentation, especially the [[Beginners Guide]]. There is also a shorter installation guide on the CD, found under /usr/share/aif/docs/.

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#You are strongly encouraged to read the Arch Linux documentation, especially the [[Installation Guide]] and [[Beginners Guide]]. Do the installation procedure described in the [[Installation Guide]], as modified by the instructions below.

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# Use the installer on the CD, to install and configure the basic system.

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#You'll need to install the {{ic|espeakup}} and {{ic|alsa-utils}} packages. The [[Installation Guide]] mentions that you can install additional packages by appending their names to the packstrap command. For example, {{ic|pacstrap /mnt base espeakup alsa-utils}}

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# You'll need to install some additional packages with pacman. Unfortunately, the mirror that you selected during the install process isn't used after you exit the installer. So copy the mirror list from your installation using this command: <code>cp /mnt/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist</code>

#You also need to save the state of the sound card, so that it will be retrieved on reboot. Execute the command {{ic|alsactl -f /var/lib/alsa/asound.state store}} and copy the file {{ic|/var/lib/alsa/asound.state}} to {{ic|/mnt/var/lib/alsa/asound.state}}. Alternatively, {{ic|alsactl -f /mnt/var/lib/alsa/asound.state store}} will do this with one command.

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#Customize <code>/mnt/etc/rc.conf</code>: Add speakup and speakup_soft to the MODULES array. Add alsa and espeakup to the DAEMONS array.

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#You also need to save the state of the sound card, so that it will be retrieved on reboot. Execute the command <code>alsactl store</code> and copy the file <code>/etc/asound.state</code> to <code>/mnt/etc/asound.state</code>. Alternatively, <code>alsactl -f /mnt/etc/asound.state store</code>

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#When you boot the system from the hard disk, it should start speaking.

#When you boot the system from the hard disk, it should start speaking.

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=== Handling Dialogs with Speakup ===

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The Arch Linux installer, <code>/arch/setup</code>, makes extensive use of the '''dialog''' program. Users may experience some difficulties when navigating several of the menus and dialogs. This is not specific to Arch Linux. Other text-mode installers often have similar problems. The following discussion is a compilation of suggested solutions from members of the Speakup community.

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First, set the DIALOGOPTS environment variable to the value &quot;--visit-items&quot;, before starting the ArchLinux installer.

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At a shell prompt, type the following command:

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export DIALOGOPTS='--visit-items'

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Enable ''highlight tracking''. Press the star key on the numeric keypad. If you use a laptop that lacks the numeric keypad, press the sequence

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capslock control 8.

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Speakup will say &quot;highlight tracking&quot;.

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Setting DIALOGOPTS and enabling ''highlight tracking'' mode should be sufficient for navigating most menus.

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==== Partitioning Hard Drives ====

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You may wish to use an alternative tool for partitioning your hard drives. Both parted and fdisk work very nicely with the screenreader. If you choose to use one of these tools, do so before starting the installer. Then, skip the partitioning steps.

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==== Setting the Date and Time ====

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You should have no trouble with the timezone dialog.

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After you select your timezone, the installer provides several options for setting the date and time. The easiest is NTP. Simply select it from the menu, and be done with it. Your clock will be synchronized via the network.

== Braille Support ==

== Braille Support ==

Line 53:

Line 27:

For example, suppose that you have a device connected to /dev/ttyS0, the first serial port. You wish to use the US English text table, and the driver should be automatically detected. Here is what you should type at the boot prompt:

For example, suppose that you have a device connected to /dev/ttyS0, the first serial port. You wish to use the US English text table, and the driver should be automatically detected. Here is what you should type at the boot prompt:

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arch brltty=auto,ttyS0,en_US

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arch32 brltty=auto,ttyS0,en_US

Once brltty is running, you may wish to disable speech. You can do so via the "print screen" key, also known as sysrq. On my qwerty keyboard, that key is located directly above the insert key, between F12 and scroll lock.

Once brltty is running, you may wish to disable speech. You can do so via the "print screen" key, also known as sysrq. On my qwerty keyboard, that key is located directly above the insert key, between F12 and scroll lock.

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This section may be incomplete. Unfortunately, the author doesn't own a braille display, so input from those who use this feature is desired.

== Maintaining Your Speech-enabled Arch Linux Installation ==

== Maintaining Your Speech-enabled Arch Linux Installation ==

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== Further Resources ==

== Further Resources ==

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Michael Whapples made an audio tutorial demonstrating the process of installing ArchLinux using this CD. Click [ftp://linux-speakup.org/pub/speakup/audio/blind_archlinux.mp3 here] to listen to it!

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TalkingArch now has an IRC channel at #talkingarch on irc.freenode.net. Feel free to drop in and talk to the maintainers or anyone else in the channel. You may also reach the maintainers by e-mail at support [at] talkingarch [dot] tk.

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== Disclaimer ==

== Disclaimer ==

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This is not an official release. It is not endorsed by anyone other than Chris Brannon. It is provided solely for the convenience of its creator and other blind users, and it comes with absolutely no warranty.

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This is not an official release. It is not endorsed by anyone other than its maintainers. It is provided solely for the convenience of blind and visually impaired users, and it comes with absolutely no warranty.

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Revision as of 06:00, 23 January 2014

This page describes a bootable CD / USB image customized for blind users. The modified version is mostly equivalent to the official "netinstall CD", but the system should start speaking as soon as you boot with it. Speech is provided via the sound card, using the eSpeak software synthesizer and the Speakup screenreader. It is also possible to use a braille display, via brltty. You can obtain the image from this page.

The image can be used with both the i686 or the x86_64 architecture. Also, it is suitable for either a recordable CD or a USB stick. Just download it and write it to the medium of your choice.

A detached GPG signature is provided on the download page. The signature for the current iso build is made with the gpg key associated with the address chris at the-brannons dot com. The key ID is 6521E06D. The fingerprint is 66BD 74A0 36D5 22F5 1DD7 0A3C 7F2A 1672 6521 E06D. This information will change when the next build becomes available to reflect the new maintainers.

Contents

Credits

The build system, which is a respin of the Archiso releng configuration, is maintained by Kelly Prescott and by Kyle, and the images and main website are hosted by Kyle.
Thanks to Chris Brannon, the past maintainer, and to the following people for submitting valuable feedback regarding this project: Chuck Hallenbeck, Julien Claassen, Alastair Irving, Tyler Spivey, Keith Hinton, and many others. Thanks also go to Tyler Littlefield, who previously hosted the files.

Installing from the CD

The following list of steps is a brief guide to installing Arch Linux using this CD. The instructions assume that your root partition will be mounted on /mnt.

This is a dual-architecture .iso file. You can just press enter at the boot prompt, or wait for the bootloader to time-out. Your processor should be automatically detected, and the appropriate architecture should be loaded automatically. If you have a console speaker, you will hear a beep when the boot prompt is on screen. Otherwise, wait about 10 to 20 seconds after the CD starts spinning, or about 3 to 5 seconds after the system begins to boot from USB, and then press enter to boot the image.

You'll need to install the espeakup and alsa-utils packages. The Installation Guide mentions that you can install additional packages by appending their names to the packstrap command. For example, pacstrap /mnt base espeakup alsa-utils

You also need to save the state of the sound card, so that it will be retrieved on reboot. Execute the command alsactl -f /var/lib/alsa/asound.state store and copy the file /var/lib/alsa/asound.state to /mnt/var/lib/alsa/asound.state. Alternatively, alsactl -f /mnt/var/lib/alsa/asound.state store will do this with one command.

When you boot the system from the hard disk, it should start speaking.

Braille Support

The latest image includes brltty, for those who own braille displays. The brltty package available on the CD was compiled with as few dependencies as possible. It is packaged as brltty-minimal in the Arch User Repository. If you wish to use braille, you will need to supply the brltty parameter at the boot prompt. Alternatively, you can start brltty from the shell, after the system has booted.

The brltty boot-time parameter consists of three comma-separated fields: driver, device, and table. The first is the driver for your display, the second is the name of the device file, and the third is a relative path to a translation table. You can use "auto" to specify that the driver should be automatically detected. I encourage you to read the brltty documentation for a fuller explanation of the program.

For example, suppose that you have a device connected to /dev/ttyS0, the first serial port. You wish to use the US English text table, and the driver should be automatically detected. Here is what you should type at the boot prompt:

arch32 brltty=auto,ttyS0,en_US

Once brltty is running, you may wish to disable speech. You can do so via the "print screen" key, also known as sysrq. On my qwerty keyboard, that key is located directly above the insert key, between F12 and scroll lock.

Maintaining Your Speech-enabled Arch Linux Installation

You shouldn't need to do anything extraordinary to maintain the installation. Everything should just seamlessly work.

Mastering Speech-enabled ISO Images

This process is now fairly straightforward. Just grab and install the talkingarch-git package from the AUR. It depends on archiso-git, so you need that as well. See /usr/share/doc/talkingarch/README for full instructions.

Further Resources

TalkingArch now has an IRC channel at #talkingarch on irc.freenode.net. Feel free to drop in and talk to the maintainers or anyone else in the channel. You may also reach the maintainers by e-mail at support [at] talkingarch [dot] tk.

Disclaimer

This is not an official release. It is not endorsed by anyone other than its maintainers. It is provided solely for the convenience of blind and visually impaired users, and it comes with absolutely no warranty.